Writing the FRQ Essay
Advanced Placement United States History
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AFree Response Question (FRQ) requires the construction of a coherent essay that demonstrates your knowledge of the historical period in question in an organized way.
Simple sequence for writing an essay:
1. Read the questionmultiple times and identify the historical period being discussed. Annotate the prompt for time period, broad key terms to define (such as “revolution”), and verbs (compare, analyze, etc.).
2. Brainstorm a list of relevant issues, historical terms, names, or events that are significant to that period of history. When complete, this list should be examined for logical division into sub-topics. Consider the directions in the prompt for obvious sub-topics (political, economic, social).
3. Develop a thesis statement:
What is a thesis?
The thesis is the controlling idea around which you construct the rest of your paper. In a history paper, the thesis generally explains why or how something happened. Your paper should support your thesis. Information not related to your thesis is irrelevant. This means, of course, that in a paper with a weak or no thesis, much of the paper will appear to be irrelevant and unguided.
How do I write the thesis?
The thesis should be contained in a single sentence that is concise and grammatically correct. This is usually the last sentence of the first paragraph. In some cases more than one sentence may be necessary to establish the thesis. The rest of the introductory paragraph should draw the reader's attention to the problem the thesis confronts in an interesting way. The introductory paragraph provides background and context along with defining key terms that appear in the thesis.
4. First Paragraph:
- Write an introduction that provides historical context on the time period or theme in question that will help set up your thesis and the rest of your essay.
- Incorporate a definition or an explanation of the significant concepts introduced in the prompt.
- Write one clear sentence that states a thesis, what the essay will prove (usually the last sentence of the first paragraph).
- Specify a few (2-4)sub-topics in the thesis. (logical segments or divisions of the overall thesis).
5. Second Paragraph:
a. Begin with a sentence which re-introduces one of the sub-topics.
b. Support that topic sentence with outside information from your brainstorm list. Explain and analyze your evidence keeping your thesis statement in mind.
c. For each example you provide, explain/analyze why it’s important to your topic/time period and how it relates to your thesis statement.
d. Write a concluding sentence that relates the paragraph's topic back to the thesis and provides a transition to the next topic.
6. Subsequent Paragraphs:
Continue this procedure until you have exhausted your brainstorm list for possible sub-topics.
7. A conclusion is not necessary, but it will strengthen your essay if done properly. If you decide to write a concluding paragraph, be sure that what you write is more than just a restating of the thesis. One suggestion is to consider how the topic in your essay impacted a future time period in a significant way.